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Who here is freelancing while working full time?
FCB Health Chicago - What’s it like?
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Pros - they’ll PR your work.
Cons - your work will be shit.
Currently in PR. DM me for a chat as it's too much to get into one post.
PROS:
Tides are changing and brands want new thinking outside of just TV. See Burger King.
There's a ton of autonomy. If I want to show an idea, I'm showing that idea. I can own a project top to bottom with very few hurdles.
I have access to blue chip brands and briefs I'd normally have to jump through hoops to be a part of with 25 other creatives fighting for the same project.
I'm in meetings with some of the best creative agencies almost every single day.
I'm not relagted to one account, but work across a portfolio of different brands and categories.
No banner ads. Not very often anyway.
The briefs are wide open and I can take them anywhere. I'm very rarely told exactly what medium or output, but can offer up whatever will work best. Often this includes some paid media.
CONS:
Tradiotnal PR folks did everything from acct management to creative -- and very often they refuse to let that go. They think you're just there to service them as their creative and it's an uphill battle every day to change minds.
There is very little understanding of process or craft. A producer? What's that? And why do we need one? All we're doing is shooting three 2:00 videos with an A-list celeb. Can't you just "produce" it yourself? To put that in perspective, I haven't had an AD partner in two years because they fundamentally don't understand what one does.
Timelines are insane. Partly due to clients but mostly because they don't understand how much work goes into conceptual creative. It's not uncommon to have 1 or 2 day turnarounds for a project unless you catch it early enough to step in.
Ad creatives are asshole and will treat you like dirt every so often.
Your main client contact is the client PR team who will often kill or water down ideas before you present to the brand team who are the decision makers.
Creative departments are understaffed and there's very little support when you need it.
All in all, I'm producing a lot of good work, but I am looking to jump back ad side.
I'd be lying if I said I'm an expert in the PR industry work as I'm relatively new to the field, but Golin won a gold lion last year for their work on McDonalds which was fun. And Edelman partnered with RZA from Wu-Tang to replace ice cream truck music with roots in racism for Good Humor last month.
Right now, ad agencies still have the monopoly like the Tampon Book, Country Time Legal-Ade, Fearless Girl, Opt Out, Fieldtrip to Mars, and Moldy Whopper, but you can clearly see where the industry is headed. In fact, I'd argue David is a PR shop with ad capabilities. Literally everything they do for BK is earned-first, paid second.
Creative PR is a massive whitespace just waiting for smart people to come in a change the game.
It will be interesting to see if ad agencies adapt first, or PR agencies wake up and own the opportunity.
Depends where you work, but the people at PR shops don’t get creative. Consultants come up with concepts and ask you to execute - and their concepts are garbage. Timelines are laughable, prepare to turn around huge projects in a couple days with no research or strategy. Team leads will stare blankly when you talk about proper process, time for thinking, or briefs. It’s a reactionary industry and they don’t have time for that. Just make it look pretty and regret your life choices.
I’m a newly minted Ad pro who just came from PR. I miss the industry. PR is a more stable industry than Ad long term. PR is where modern marketing is headed. There’s a lot of more out of the box creative opportunities. You’re not just creating ads. You’re creating a reputation.
Coach
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Enthusiast
Most of the large PR firms are struggling in a big way. Social media and the internet have steadily eroded their monopoly on generating PR, and their creative capabilities have never taken off to say the least. It’s left them with no real expertise unfortunately.
The only big pro is that you’ll be exposed to more than just marketing/advertising people, and a job at a PR agency can sometimes help you leap frog into other industries.
PROs: lots of hotties in PR.
CONs: literally everything else, work money self respect industry cred you name it.